China calls official's death sentence a warning (for corruption)

Source: reuters


China calls official's death sentence a warning
31 May 2007 00:41:45 GMT
Source: Reuters

BEIJING, May 31 (Reuters) - China said on Thursday that the death sentence given to the former head of its drug and food watchdog for corruption was a warning to top officials at a time when the ruling Communist Party is seeking to win popular trust.

Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, faces execution after a Beijing court on convicted him on Tuesday of graft and dereliction of duty.

He left his post before a recent wave of medicine safety scandals engulfed China. But state media have acclaimed the unusually harsh sentence as showing the Communist Party's determination to purge corruption.

A commentary in the People's Daily, the party's official paper, said Zheng's fate was a lesson to other officials.

"As a case study of a party member and leading official breaking the law and committing crime, the Zheng Xiaoyu case offers profound lessons that all public servants, especially leading officials at every level, should take to heart," the paper said.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK354796.htm

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I do think too too harsh, on the other hand if the US has penelties for all the corruption that has happened maybe they would think twice. now they leave and write a book!!

I ask out loud, the guy took bribes so that drugs went on the market that killed people, with callous disregard for the results... what's harsh enough short of this penalty? All the sick pets too.

a Chinese dungeon?

I don't believe in state sponsored death.

Hi, zidzi! :hi:

:hi:

preferential treatment of the corporations and executives and the DP. Sometimes death seems like an appropriate outcome for people, but I'm against the DP both on principle and based on how it impacts society.

But, alas, very few live up to their chosen moral codes.

Anyway, this penalty is wrong IMO for white collar, the poor, whatever. I don't think any group should be dealt with more harshly. It's just that the justice system in the U.S. isn't quite fair.

I applaud them for this action.
Many more white collar criminals should be dealt with in the same manner.

They need to crack down on corruption. But they mustn't merely view it as a legal problem. It's a political problem first and foremost. There's no political unifying theme uniting the civil servants or ruling party. It's all about wealth. That's not enough. Economic growth is good, but not at the cost of nation's soul.

... it is not our business. We are not the policemen of the world - It is the business of the people of China. A stretch would be an issue for the U.N. maybe?

I'll believe it when high party officials are executed for corruption, and not just as a ploy in internecine power struggles.

In China, corruption goes all the way to the top.

To paraphrase Will Rogers (imitating Calvin Coolidge giving a State of the Union speech):

"The Chinese leadership is vigorously pursuing all this small graft. It's grown to such proportions that it's interfering with *large* graft"

..